(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for providing services related to an apparatus using a web page.
(2) Background Art
Conventionally, it is known that services in respect with an apparatus such as a printer are provided on a web site on the Internet managed by the manufacturer and supplier of the apparatus using the web page. Examples of such services are downloading a new version of software related to the apparatus and showing information regarding consumables and optional accessories of the apparatus. Services of this type of are convenient because any user of the apparatus can easily receive the services at any time by simply accessing to the web site.
The web site described above is used by a large number of users, and the service each user requests is different depending on the condition of use and the model of the apparatus the user owns. For this reason, a large volume of information is prepared on the web site in order to handle a variety of requests, which means that the amount of the information displayed on the web page and the number of web pages itself may be quite large. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of the user of the apparatus, the user must search for the information he or she needs from among a large volume of information, which reduces comfortability when he or she receives the service. However, if the amount of information offered on the web site is reduced in order to avoid such inconvenience, elaborate services cannot be provided.
An object of the present invention, which has been made to solve the above problems, is to improve the comfortability when a user receives services provided by using a web page.